Victims were devoted spouses, parents and sports fans

Sep. 18, 2013
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Brittany Carter, of Bowie, MD., (L) Jibri Johnson, of Landon, MD., (C) and Bryan Beard of Washington D.C. hold candles in remembrance of people affected by gun violence during a vigil at Freedom Plaza on September 16, 2013 in Washington, DC. The vigil, during which organizers called for stricter gun laws, was in remembrance of the 12 victims killed in a shooting at the Washington Navy Yard earlier in the day. / Greg Kahn, Getty Images

None of the victims has been identified as active-duty military personnel, officials said.

Michael Arnold: Arnold had a love for adventure that began when he took his first flight lesson at 16 in his hometown of Rochester, Mich.

After graduating from Rochester High School in the early 1970s, he joined the Navy ROTC program while he attended college at the University of Oklahoma, says his mother, Patricia Arnold, 80. He met his wife, Jolanda, at college, and married before going into the Navy as an ensign, living in Hawaii before his job took them to Washington.

The couple have two sons, Christopher, 31, and Eric, 27, who both live in the Washington, D.C., area.

His uncle, Steven Hunter, 62, grew up and went to school with Arnold. He says he last saw his nephew Labor Day weekend when he traveled to the family cottage with son Christopher. Hunter says Arnold, ever the pilot, talked about building a two-seat airplane in his basement and was focusing on building the wing.

Hunter said his nephew felt strongly about his work with the Navy.

"He loved his job," Hunter said. "He felt he was making a difference, seeing that they spent the money well."

That makes his death all the more tragic, he said.

"You wouldn't expect to get up to go to work at your office, wherever that might be, and expect to get shot," Hunter said. "Is it fate? Is it chance that you're in that one spot at the wrong time that some madman is starting to shoot? Whether it's the Boston Marathon people or Fort Hood or any of these places where you have a deranged shooter, how do you protect yourself from something like that? I don't know how you do it."

Martin Bodrog: In a quiet, leafy cul-de-sac of Annandale, Va., a suburb southwest of Washington, word spread quickly Tuesday that one of their own had been killed at the Washington Navy Yard the day before, former naval officer Martin Bodrog.

"For everybody in the neighborhood, we were caught off guard," neighbor Gerald Francis says.

Bodrog - known as "Marty" on the cul-de-sac - lived there with his wife, Melanie, a neighborhood coordinator. The couple were married for 25 years and had three children: Isabel, 23, Sophie, 17, and Rita, 16, according to an obituary notice issued by the family Tuesday.

"Marty was a source of great inspiration to his family and friends - those of us lucky enough to know Marty are better people for it," the notice says.

Bodrog was a graduate of the United States Naval Academy in 1981 and served as a surface warfare officer for 22 years until his retirement from what his family described as a distinguished career. His expertise and experience were in amphibious operations. "Marty continued to serve his nation by overseeing the design and procurement of ships for our Navy," the notice says.

Bodrog was a friendly face who pitched in on neighborhood chores like shoveling out driveways for the elderly; and was a common sight jogging with his pet poodle, even running in subfreezing cold, wearing shorts and the jersey of his beloved Boston Bruins. His family described him as a "humble, loving father and neighbor."

Martin and his family taught preschool Sunday school lessons at Immanuel Bible Church in Springfield, Va. He was also active in a church program for high school students, the obituary notice says.

"Needless to say (he) was a great guy," says another neighbor, Ronald Earley. "We'll miss him greatly."

The neighborhood is not new to tragedy. A Virginia Tech student, Mary Read, who was killed in the 2007 shooting rampage, had lived four blocks away.

Arthur Daniels: Daniels installed furniture in federal buildings all over the Washington, D.C., region. On Monday, he was at Washington Naval Yard in the one location where a man began shooting people.

A witness told The Washington Post that Daniels, 51, the married father of five, saw the gunman in a hallway at Building 197 where the shooting occurred and ran toward an elevator, pushing the button in an effort to flee. But Daniels was shot in the back, the witness told the Post.

His wife, Priscilla Daniels, had waited all day before learning the news that her husband was killed.

"He was a good father and a hard worker," she told the Post through tears.

Daniels was a subcontractor for District Furniture Repair in Arlington, according to the newspaper.

"He had this great personality and is always helping others," company owner Lewis Yancey II told the Post.

Arthur Daniels Jr., the slain man's son, told the newspaper that the family was struggling to comprehend the tragedy.

"All he did was go to work," the son said. "That was his only crime."

Sylvia Frasier: Frasier, who had a bachelor's and a master's degree in computer information systems, worked at Naval Sea Systems Command since 2000, says a LinkedIn profile in her name.

But she had an unexpected second job: working the night shift at the Walmart store in Waldorf, Md.

She was supposed to work Monday night. Instead, on Tuesday morning, Joe Sieger, assistant manager of the store, had to break the news that one of his finest employees had been killed in the Navy Yard massacre. Frasier started working at Walmart 10 years ago as a second job to her work at the Naval Sea Systems Command.

"Sylvia was a natural leader and she had a fantastic, outgoing personality," Sieger said. "She was always the first person there by your side to lend a helping hand. If someone didn't have a ride after work, she always offered her services. Anything you needed, Sylvia was the first one there."

Sylvia started as a cashier and quickly rose from floor associate to customer service.

The heartbroken staff is in disbelief, Sieger says.

"Everyone came to me right away asking, 'Is it true?' I have had several cashiers who just broke down into tears," Sieger said. "The cashiers are taking it very personally."

According to a LinkedIn profile in her name, Frasier has worked at Naval Sea Systems Command as an enterprise information assurance manager since 2009. Before that, she worked as a NAVSEA HQ information assurance manager from 2000 to 2009. Her duties at NAVSEA included providing policy and guidance on network security and assuring that all computer systems operated by the headquarters met Department of Navy and Department of Defense requirements.

Frasier studied at Strayer University, earning a bachelor of science degree in computer information systems in 2000 and a master's in information systems in 2002.

"When I asked her why she worked at Walmart when she already had a government job, she just said, 'Joe, I love the people," Sieger recalled. "She was always smiling.

"She just enjoyed life so much and enjoyed people," Sieger says. "She gave it her all. She was never burnt out. You always counted on Sylvia; she was my constant. She was always reliable."

The Walmart in Waldorf scheduled a vigil for Frasier Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Kathy Gaarde: She was a financial analyst from Woodbridge, Va., a Washington Capitals fan and devoted wife and mother of two, neighbor and friend Patrick Bolton told The Washington Post.

"The mother was just the kindest lady in the world," Bolton told the news organization. "I've never seen her do anything but nice things for people."

Gaarde's husband, Douglass, wrote an e-mail to the AP early Tuesday. "Today my life partner of 42 years (38 of them married) was taken from me, my grown son and daughter, and friends," he wrote. "We were just starting to plan our retirement activities and now none of that matters. It hasn't fully sunk in yet but I know I already dearly miss her."

John Roger Johnson: Johnson was a hugger.

"Friends would say, 'You don't need a chiropractor if you get a John Johnson hug,' " says his daughter Megan.

A civilian contractor working as a logistics analyst at the Navy Yard, Johnson would have celebrated his 74th birthday next month, his family said in a statement.

Johnson "loved what he did and the people he worked with," Megan says.

He lived in Derwood, Md., with his wife of eight years, Judy, and leaves behind a big family that includes four daughters, 10 grandchildren with an 11th on the way, a brother and a sister and four stepchildren.

When he wasn't working at the Navy Yard, he would go fishing at Nags Head, N.C., where the family had a home.

Mary Francis Knight: The Reston, Va., mother of two girls originally hailed from Fayetteville, N.C., relatives told WITN, a Fayetteville TV station. Theodore Hisey, a family spokesman, told the station that she was an information technology contractor who had lived in the D.C. area for five years. He said she was the daughter of a former Green Beret instructor.

"She was a great patriot who loved her country and loved serving the USA," Hisey said.

Knight's mother Liliana DeLorenzo told WNCN in Fayetteville, N.C., that she heard about the shooting from her son, who called to ask if she knew what happened.

"So I was hoping, you know, maybe she was okay, until I found out today she wasn't," DeLorenzo told the station.

DeLorenzo described her daughter as a "career girl," who was honest

, loving and had a good soul.

Knight had a long career in cybersecurity and taug

ht a class on information technology as an adjunct professor at Northern Virginia Community College. Steven Manthei, chief information officer at Defense Security Cooperation Agency, wrote on her LinkedIn profile that Knight was "an outstanding leader."

"She will be missed," said Celeste Dubeck-Smith, the Dean for business and public services at Northern Virginia Community College's Annandale campus. During the week nights, Knight spent her evenings teaching software design and spreadsheet software at NOVA, after she was hired there just this Fall. Other colleagues of Knight say they were impressed by her interest in her classes and her commitment to understanding how she could best serve her students and apply different teaching strategies. Smith said that Knight's background with computers and expertise really stood out to employers at NOVA, and that students were enjoying her classes.

According to Knight's LinkedIn profile, she got an associate's degree in electronic data processing from Fayetteville Technical Institute, a bachelor's degree in computer information systems from Campbell University in North Carolina, master's degree in computer resources and information management from Webster University in Missouri and CIO and 4011 IA designations from the National Defense University.

Frank Kohler: A family member declined comment and referred calls to a family representative. Kohler and his wife, Michelle, were listed as vice president and president, respectively, of Computer Management Systems, based in Tall Timbers, Md. A LinkedIn profile identifies Frank Kohler as a senior system engineer.

Public records show Kohler had property in Belleair, Fla., where he also had hunting and fishing permits.

Kohler lived on the banks of Herring Creek in Tall Timbers, on the Chesapeake Bay. A neighbor, Joyce Mori, says Kohler had two college-age children who were avid fans of water sports.

"Frank and Michelle work, so we never see them," says Mori, whose husband once tried to buy an old jet ski from Kohler only to have Kohler give it to him instead. "On weekends, they have a boat and a pool and they go water-skiing. It looks like they have friends over all the time. It just seems like they're a good family."

Vishnu Pandit: A spokesman for Pandit's widow and children told reporters outside the family's Maryland home that "the only saving grace in this horrible incident is that he died doing what he loved the most in the service of his nation."

Pandit, whose nickname was Kisan, a Hindi word for "peasant," was an Indian immigrant who had served his adopted nation's Navy in a 30-year civilian career.

"He was very dedicated to improving the performance of naval ships and systems," longtime friend M. Nuns Jain told the Associated Press outside the Pandit home in North Potomac, where the family was in mourning.

Pandit was a native of Mumbai who earned a bachelor's degree in marine engineering in India in 1973 before coming to America, where he received a naval architecture degree from the University of Michigan, according to the Associated Press.

He served with the U.S. Merchant Marine before joining the Naval Sea Systems Command, headquartered at the Washington Navy Yard.

Pandit and his wife, Anjali, were married for 35 years and have two sons and a granddaughter. He was active in the local Hare Krishna Hindu temple. Friends and neighbors described him as a gentle, loving man who loved his family and his golden retriever.

Kenneth Proctor: The father of two more than likely walked into the shooting zone before the violence began Monday morning merely to get some breakfast, says his ex-wife, Evelyn Proctor, of Waldorf, Md.

The 46-year-old civilian utilities foreman, who worked for the federal government for 22 years, adored his two teenage sons and the Washington Redskins. Every morning before work at the Washington Navy Yard, he would stop by Building 197 to grab something to eat, she says.

"He just went in there in the morning for breakfast," she told the AP, speaking Monday of the building where the shooting took place. "He didn't even work in the building. It was a routine thing for him to go there in the morning for breakfast, and unfortunately it happened."

She described him as a very caring, loving and gentle person. "We were still very close. It wasn't a bitter divorce," Evelyn Proctor says. They lived 10 minutes apart.

He spoke with her that very morning. They were married for 19 years, were high school sweethearts and stayed very close even after splitting up this year, she says.

Their oldest son, Kenneth Proctor Jr., 17, is in Army basic training in Oklahoma, and their younger son, Kendull, is 15.

Evelyn Proctor tried repeatedly to reach her ex-husband after hearing of the shooting, and then drove to the Navy Yard when there was no response. She feared he might be among the dead.

Standing with other relatives waiting at the scene, she learned Monday night she was right.

Gerald Read: A LinkedIn profile in his name says Read, 58, worked 12 years as an information assurance specialist at Naval Sea Systems Command.

Richard Ridgell: Ridgell was a huge football fan, especially for the Baltimore Ravens. A longtime neighbor of Ridgell's in Westminster, Md., Steven Sadowski says everyone on the block always knew when a good play was happening in a game by the excitement and cheering across the street.

"He was a fun-loving guy and a good neighbor who always was willing to help out," Sadowski says. He says he was shocked when he heard Ridgell was killed.

"I'm sorry for his wife and two daughters," Sadowski says. "It's terrible that their father died."

Ridgell's daughter Megan told WJZ 13, a local CBS channel, that she wants Ridgell to be remembered as a father first not a victim.

"I don't want people to remember him as a victim cause he never was in his life and he never will be," she said. "He was strong and I want him to be known as a dad above of a victim of a shooting 'cause he was a great dad for all of us."

Ridgell worked as a Maryland state trooper from January 1983 until August 2000. He left with the ranking of corporal, Maryland State Police spokesperson Sergeant Marc Black said.

The Navy established two telephone numbers for families to call for information about their loved ones: (202) 433-6151 and (202) 433-9713.